What do you think about virtual committee members, electronic meetings, and open-to-everyone ALA e-mail lists? Will this allow more folks to participate in ALA? Will you be able to get money from your institution to go to conferences if you can participate online? How will ALA make up lost revenue? At both meetings Janet Swan Hill, chair of the Task Force on E-Member Participation, will give a short introduction to '''"ALA E-Participation: Challenges and Opportunities.”''' Then she and other e-participation specialists will take your questions. In the second half of each meeting we will discuss member resolutions and have a “talk to the leaders” session with ALA President Loriene Roy, President-Elect Jim Rettig, and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels.

What do you think about virtual committee members, electronic meetings, and open-to-everyone ALA e-mail lists? Will this allow more folks to participate in ALA? Will you be able to get money from your institution to go to conferences if you can participate online? How will ALA make up lost revenue? At both meetings Janet Swan Hill, chair of the Task Force on E-Member Participation, will give a short introduction to '''"ALA E-Participation: Challenges and Opportunities.”''' Then she and other e-participation specialists will take your questions. In the second half of each meeting we will discuss member resolutions and have a “talk to the leaders” session with ALA President Loriene Roy, President-Elect Jim Rettig, and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels.

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== Podcast About the Meetings ==

Listen to a PodCast interview with Larry Romans, chair of the Membership Meetings Committee as he discusses the 2008 Meetings at http://blogs.ala.org/memberblog.php?title=five_questions_about_the_membership_meet&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Listen to a PodCast interview with Larry Romans, chair of the Membership Meetings Committee as he discusses the 2008 Meetings at http://blogs.ala.org/memberblog.php?title=five_questions_about_the_membership_meet&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

2008 ALA Membership Meetings

What do you think about virtual committee members, electronic meetings, and open-to-everyone ALA e-mail lists? Will this allow more folks to participate in ALA? Will you be able to get money from your institution to go to conferences if you can participate online? How will ALA make up lost revenue? At both meetings Janet Swan Hill, chair of the Task Force on E-Member Participation, will give a short introduction to "ALA E-Participation: Challenges and Opportunities.” Then she and other e-participation specialists will take your questions. In the second half of each meeting we will discuss member resolutions and have a “talk to the leaders” session with ALA President Loriene Roy, President-Elect Jim Rettig, and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels.

ATTEND AN ALA MEMBERSHIP MEETING AT CONFERENCE

Membership Forums and Meetings are one important way that you can affect what ALA does. You can express your views at the Forum and at the Meeting you can vote on resolutions to send to Council.

ALA Membership Meetings and How They Work

What is an ALA Membership Meeting?
ALA Membership Meetings are an opportunity for ALA members to make things happen in the American Library Association. ALA members can bring issues important to libraries and librarianship to the floor and decide how they might be addressed within ALA.

When are ALA Membership Meetings held?
A Membership Meeting is held during the first two days of the Annual Conference (Saturday afternoon, 3:30-5PM). A second meeting is held on Monday 11:30AM – 1PM. Other meetings can be set by the ALA Executive Board, ALA Council, or by membership petition (ALA Bylaw Article II, Section 2).

Who may attend ALA Membership Meetings?
All ALA personal members.

How is the agenda for the meetings set?
The Committee on Membership Meetings plans the agenda for the meetings (ALA Policy 7.4.10).

Over the past few years, the Committee on Membership Meetings has developed suggested agendas, which include some “hot” discussion topics to draw ALA members to the meetings.

The ALA members present at the meeting can change the proposed agendas at the beginning of the meeting. During the last half of the meeting, membership resolutions take precedence over discussion topics or other business.

ALA Membership Resolutions

Who makes membership resolutions?
YOU--ALA personal members. The resolution can be on any topic or issue that falls within the resolution guidelines.
The resolution can be on any topic or issue that falls within the resolution guidelines. The Council Resolutions Committee must review all membership resolutions. If you e-mail or present your resolution in person, you must do so at least 24 hours before a Membership Meeting. ALA will make copies of the resolution for all meeting attendees.

In sum, resolutions can be easily submitted well in advance of the ALA Annual Conference by sending them to Peter McDonald, chair. At conference, Resolutions Committee members will be available at Table #14 in the ALA Office Area, Anaheim Convention Center, to help you draft resolutions during these times:

Fri., 6/27, 2-4pm;

Sat., 6/28, 9:30-11am;

Sun., 6/29, 2-5pm; and

Mon., 6/30, 9:30-11am

They will also be at the ALA Membership Meetings to provide assistance to you.

All resolutions approved by the membership are presented at the next ALA Council meeting. “The presiding officer of Council calls for Council’s guidance on the disposition of each membership item in turn.” (ALA Policy 7.4.10)

A final thought

This meeting is YOUR meeting. Members control the content of all membership meetings. Any member may speak on any topic by standing at a microphone. When the microphone number is called, you state your name, then say “ALA Personal Member” and speak to the topic on the floor. There is a bit of formality about this process, but it doesn’t take more than a few minutes of observation to understand how things work.